Golden Eaglets’ Head coach Manu Garba (MFR) said he was confident that his wards would deliver the goods yet again in Tuesday’s semi-final decider against Sweden at the Rashid Stadium in Dubai.
“All my life, I have never entertained any fear and I don’t even know what fear means,” posited a self- assured Manu when pressed at the Press Conference.
“Of course, I know that whatever happens is ordained by God, so I have no fear about Sweden.”
For Nigeria and Sweden, it would be a battle of familiar foes after their pulsating 3-3 draw in the Preliminary Group F almost three weeks ago at the Bin Khalifa Stadium in Al Ain.
While Nigeria eventually topped the group with seven points, Sweden sneaked into the next round of the competition as one of the best First Round losers after coming second with four points behind Mexico who had six.
“Group F was the most competitive at this tournament,” maintained Manu. “Though the Swedes are a good technical side, I’ll still rate Mexico ahead of them for obvious reasons.
“Mexico beat Sweden 1-0 in the group and that was the same team that we beat 6-1 which shows that the Mexicans are a very good side because they are also in the semi-finals too.”
But speaking specifically about Tuesday’s winner-takes-it-all encounter against Sweden in Dubai, Manu said his confidence was borne out of the fact that his players have strong mental ability to deal with whatever the Swedes would throw at them.
“As an interim coach in 2007 when we were about leaving Nigeria for the World Cup in Korea, I told Nigerians that it’s the cup or nothing and I still maintain the same thing now because this team has come a
long way and we cannot afford to fail,” he explained.
Speaking briefly, Akinjide Idowu who is ruled out of the game as a result of two yellow cards, said the confidence of the coaches in the players have rubbed off on the entire team so much so he would not be sorely missed against Sweden.
He said: “I feel sad that I won’t be playing against Sweden but that would not change anything because we have others who can do the job. Like the coach has said, we have so much confidence going into this
match and by the grace of God, we are going to win.”
Brazilian Lopes to officiate Sweden-Nigeria Semi-final
Referee Heber Roberto Lopes who was in charge of Golden Eaglets’ 4-1 thrashing of Iran in the second round l match, has been entrusted by FIFA yet again with the semi-final match against Sweden at the Rashid
Stadium in Dubai on Tuesday.
The list of officials for the match is completed with his two compatriots, Allesandro Rocha and Marcelo Van Grasse who incidentally served as first and second assistants the last time.
Norbert Hauata from Tahiti and Tevita Makasini from Tonga would serve as fourth and
reserve assistant referee.
Lopes is one of the elite referees in the South American Confederation (CONMEBOL) and a Brazil 2014 World Cup designated official.
He was at the 2003 FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Finland and was named as Brazil Referee of the Year in 2009.
Like it was the last time he handled the game against Nigeria, the Golden Eaglets would be wearing their white jerseys while the Swedes would be on yellow top with blue short.
‘Write Your Names in Gold’ … Hayatou Charges Eaglets
Dr. Issa Hayatou, President of Confederation of African Football(CAF) on Monday visited the Golden Eaglets at their Intercontinental Dubai Festival City Hotel with a clarion call on the Nigerian youngsters to write their names in gold by winning the FIFA Under-17 World Cup UAE 2013.
Hayatou who came along with two members of his executive committee, 1st Vice President, Alhamy Kabele Camara and Algerian Mohammed Raouraoua and former CAF Director of Communications, Suleiman Habuba ,said he has been following the progress of the team since the CAN Under-17 Championship in Morocco where they came second behind Cote d’Ivoire.
Golden Eaglets are the only African team left in this competition and Hayatou said his courtesy visit was solidarity from the entire people of the continent, adding that the team is indeed on the threshold of
history.
“Nigeria have won this trophy three times in the past but I want you to know that those victories were for Nigeria,
“Hayatou spoke in French which was translated by Mr. Bola Oyeyode, NFF’s Head of International. “ It is now your turn to write your names in gold and I want you to know that CAF as well as everybody from Africa would be supporting you in order to achieve this victory.”
Hayatou said he was impressed with the performance and conduct of the Golden Eaglets especially in last Saturday’s 2-0 win against Uruguay which was the only quarter-final match he watched live.
“You have shown the capacity that you can do it and I have no doubt you would go all the way after seeing your last match against Uruguay but we want you to forget about past achievements and focus on your
next matches starting with Tuesday’s match against Sweden.”
Hayatou equally praised the Nigeria Football Federation’s President Alhaji Aminu Maigari who in a welcome address, said the team has already been with such a high-level delegation from the father of African football.
Meanwhile, coach Manu Garba (MFR) said the Golden Eaglets whom he described as ‘the great warriors of Africa’ would not let Africa down as the only team left in the competition from the continent following
the exit of Tunisia, Morocco and Cote d’Ivoire.
“We have come a long way in this assignment and by the grace of God, we are ready to do Africa proud but first, we have to beat, Sweden on Tuesday.”
Green Gingers Injured Success
Barrister Chris Green, chairman technical committee of the NFF, has told Golden Eaglets’ Vice-captain Success Isaac to put behind the unfortunate injury that has hampered his contribution since the second match against Sweden.
Success, top scorer at the CAN under-17 Championship in Morocco, limped off with hamstring strain moment after he scored the Golden Eaglets’ opener in the pulsating 3-3 draw against the Swedes.
“You have done well and everybody is aware of what you are capable of doing,” Green told Success on the margins of the 2-0 win against Uruguay at the weekend.” Just be focussed and the sky would be your
limit.”
Green said he was generally impressed with the performance of the Golden Eaglets at the on-going FIFA World Cup 2013 UAE, adding that the future of Nigeria is bright indeed.
“We can’t be tired of saying that this is a good team and we are going to see many of these players in the other levels of the national teams because the coaches have really done a good job on them.”
Speaking in the same vein, Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme, NFF’s Director Technical said the impressive performance of the Golden Eaglets overtime was possible due to long-time planning by the NFF. He said the players have been better off than when they were first invited to camp.
“Of course, there is the pressure of competition as we have seen here but you can’t take anything away from the good job done by the coaching crew,” he noted.
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